Question

I added admin controller.
This code works correct:

    <admin>
        <routers>
            <adminhtml>
                <args>
                    <modules>
                        <mycompany_mymodule>Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml</mycompany_mymodule >
                    </modules>
                </args>
            </adminhtml>
        </routers>
    </admin>

If I add before=”Mage_Adminhtml” to mycompany_mymodule:

<mycompany_mymodule before="Mage_Adminhtml">Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml</mycompany_mymodule >

then it doesn’t work – got 404 error.

1. What does this option do?

Also I looked throught Alans’ Storm article: http://alanstorm.com/magento_admin_controllers
There are example:

<config>
    <!-- ... -->
    <admin>
        <routers>
            <the_name_of_this_element_is_not_important_it_should_be_unique>
                <use>admin</use>
                <args>
                    <module>Alanstormdotcom_Adminhelloworld</module>
                    <frontName>adminhelloworld</frontName>
                </args>
            </the_name_of_this_element_is_not_important_it_should_be_unique>
        </routers>
    </admin>
    <!-- ... -->        
</config>

2. What is the difference between these definitions?

Answer 1

It solved:

I found Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Standard class where collectRoutes() method is defined. It parses “after” and “before” parameters to order the modules.

This method is calling from Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Admin (started from init method in Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Front).

So after I looked through match process in Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Standard.

After Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Standard debuging I understood my fault.

1. I used Index controller instead of MyModuleContoller.

2. Alan Storm defined controller which is not under the admin module (i.e. adminhtml). When I use first config – it works perfect because I defined new modules under the section adminhtml. In Alan’s config I cannot add my module to adminhtml. I could override it but it is not correct because other modules under the adminhtml will be removed then.

This is correct code for menu under the adminhtml:

    <admin>
        <routers>
            <adminhtml>
                <args>
                    <modules>
                        <mycompany_mymodule after="Mage_Adminhtml">Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml</mycompany_mymodule >
                    </modules>
                </args>
            </adminhtml>
        </routers>
    </admin>

Inchoo also described this config here.